Electrochemical Cell with Bipolar Faradaic Membrane

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017324072-A1
Application number	US-201715661367-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 27, 2017
Priority date	Feb 27, 2015
Publication date	Nov 9, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

An electrochemical cell comprising: a negative electrode comprising lithium and aluminum; a positive electrode, separate from the negative electrode, comprising a liquid phase having zinc; a liquid electrolyte, disposed between the negative electrode and the positive electrode, comprising a salt of lithium and a salt of zinc; and a bipolar faradaic membrane, disposed between the negative electrode and the positive electrode, having a first surface facing the negative electrode and a second surface facing the positive electrode, the bipolar faradaic membrane configured to allow cations of lithium to pass through and configured to impede cations of zinc from transferring from the positive electrode to the negative electrode, the bipolar faradaic membrane at least partially formed from a material having an electronic conductivity sufficient to drive faradaic reactions at the second surface with the cations of the positive electrode.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An electrochemical cell comprising:
a negative electrode comprising aluminum; a positive electrode, separate from the negative electrode, comprising a liquid phase having zinc; a liquid electrolyte, disposed between the negative electrode and the positive electrode, comprising a salt of lithium; and a bipolar faradaic membrane, disposed between the negative electrode and the positive electrode, having a first surface facing the negative electrode and a second surface facing the positive electrode, wherein: the bipolar faradaic membrane is configured to allow cations of lithium to pass through and configured to impede cations of zinc from transferring from the second surface to the first surface, the bipolar faradaic membrane is at least partially formed from a material having an electronic conductivity sufficient to drive faradaic reactions at the second surface with cations of zinc, when the cell undergoes charging, lithium from the liquid electrolyte alloys with the aluminum of the negative electrode, and a salt of zinc forms on the side of the bipolar faradaic membrane facing the positive electrode.

2 . The electrochemical cell according to claim 1 , wherein the bipolar faradaic membrane is configured to have the first surface positively charged and the second surface negatively charged.

3 . The electrochemical cell according to claim 2 , wherein the positively charged first surface and the negatively charged second surface are electrostatically induced.

4 . The electrochemical cell according to claim 1 , wherein the bipolar faradaic membrane is permeable to a passive spectator ion.

5 . The electrochemical cell according to claim 1 , wherein the bipolar faradaic membrane comprises an electronic pathway across the bipolar faradaic membrane, wherein the electronic pathway comprises a material selected from the group consisting of iron, steel, and combinations thereof.

6 . The electrochemical cell according to claim 1 , wherein the bipolar faradaic membrane comprises a material selected from the group consisting of titanium nitride, zirconium nitride, titanium diboride, metals, metalloids, and combinations thereof.

7 . The electrochemical cell according to claim 1 , wherein the bipolar faradaic membrane comprises a sintering additive, wherein the sintering additive is selected from the group consisting of magnesium oxide, aluminum oxide, aluminum nitride, silicon nitride, silicon oxide, silicon oxynitride, and combinations thereof.

8 . The electrochemical cell according to claim 1 , wherein the bipolar faradaic membrane is an electronically conductive matrix comprising an insulator and conductive particles, wherein the insulator is selected from the group consisting of magnesium oxide, aluminum oxide, silicon oxide, aluminum nitride, silicon nitride, silicon oxynitride, and/or polymers.

9 . The electrochemical cell according to claim 1 , wherein the bipolar faradaic membrane comprises a porous stainless steel membrane coated with titanium nitride.

10 . The electrochemical cell according to claim 1 , wherein the negative electrode further comprises a material selected from the group consisting of sodium, potassium, cesium, magnesium, calcium, strontium, barium, and combinations thereof.

11 . The electrochemical cell according to claim 1 , wherein the positive electrode further comprises a material selected from the group consisting of lead, tin, bismuth, antimony, mercury, gallium, indium, and combinations thereof.

12 . The electrochemical cell according to claim 1 , wherein the bipolar faradaic membrane is in direct contact with the negative electrode.

13 . The electrochemical cell according to claim 1 , wherein the electrolyte is between the negative electrode and the positive electrode, and on the side of the bipolar faradaic membrane facing the positive electrode.

14 . The electrochemical cell according to claim 1 , wherein the negative electrode is more than 0 mol % and at most 50 mol % in lithium.

15 . The electrochemical cell according to claim 1 , wherein the electrolyte is selected from the group consisting of LiCl—KCl, LiBr—KBr, and LiCl—LiBr—KBr.

16 . An electrochemical cell comprising:
a negative electrode comprising lithium and aluminum; a positive electrode, separate from the negative electrode, comprising a liquid phase having zinc; a liquid electrolyte, disposed between the negative electrode and the positive electrode, comprising a salt of lithium and a salt of zinc; and a bipolar faradaic membrane, disposed between the negative electrode and the positive electrode, having a first surface facing the negative electrode and a second surface facing the positive electrode, wherein: the bipolar faradaic membrane is configured to allow cations of lithium to pass through and configured to impede cations of zinc from transferring from the second surface to the first surface, and the bipolar faradaic membrane is at least partially formed from a material having an electronic conductivity sufficient to drive faradaic reactions at the second surface with cations of zinc.

17 . The electrochemical cell according to claim 16 , wherein the bipolar faradaic membrane comprises a material selected from the group consisting of nickel-iron foam, copper foam, carbon foam, metal felt, metallic fibers, steels, alloys, and combinations thereof.

18 . The electrochemical cell according to claim 16 , wherein the bipolar faradaic membrane comprises a material selected from the group consisting of copper, titanium, iron, nickel, tungsten, tantalum, molybdenum, silicon, and combinations thereof.

19 . The electrochemical cell according to claim 16 , wherein a solid or partially solid phase is present in the negative electrode at an operating temperature of the cell.

20 . A method of exchanging electrical energy with an external circuit, the method comprising:
connecting an electrochemical cell according to claim 1 to the external circuit; and operating the external circuit so as to drive transfer of electrons between the negative electrode and the positive electrode.

Assignees

• Massachusetts Inst Technology
• Total Energies Now Activites Usa
• Total Sa

Inventors

• Yin Huayi
• Chen Fei
• Chung Brice Hoani Valentin
• Ouchi Takanari
• Sadoway Donald Robert

Classifications

• H01M4/387

  Tin or alloys based on tin · CPC title

• H01M4/405

  Alloys based on lithium · CPC title

• H01M4/382

  Lithium (H01M4/405 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H01M4/38

  of elements or alloys · CPC title

• H01M2300/0057

  Chlorides · CPC title